Sunday, October 25, 2015

Dumped by Sherman? Utility soon to resume removing 'metallic' objects from S.C. river

Burning of Columbia, Feb. 1865 (William Waud, Library of Congress)

Historic
flooding earlier this month in Columbia, South Carolina, put a temporary hold
on the removal of objects from a river where Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman is believed to have dumped captured munitions.

“Prior to the
flooding, we did work on removing the metallic objects for several days,” said Ginny
Jones, senior public affairs specialist for SCANA, parent company of utility
SCE&G. “Nothing we found at that time was of historical significance. We
plan to resume work on the project on Nov. 2.”

The State
newspaper has reported that sonar and metal detection have located where the
weapons were likely dumped into the Congaree River near the Gervais Street
bridge. But no one is certain the objects are associated with the Civil War.

Sherman, on
his way to North Carolina after seizing the South Carolina capital, kept what he
wanted of Confederate ordnance and threw the rest into the river in February 1865.

“It is
certainly possible that historical objects could still be found; we still just
don’t know what’s there until we dig it up,” Jones said in an email to the
Civil War Picket.

Gervais Street bridge (NPS)

EOTI, a
Tennessee company, has been contracted to help deal with any Civil War-related
munitions that are found. “That likely would involve placing a cover over any
explosives consultants find, then detonating the material in place,” the
newspaper reported, quoting a SCANA official. “The cover would keep the
explosion contained to protect the public and the surrounding environment.”

EOTI referred
Picket questions to SCANA.

SCE&G is
conducting a remediation project in the Congaree River because of the detected
presence of tar. It says tests show it to be coal tar created by manufactured
gas plants that operated throughout Columbia more than century ago.

The State, in
a preview of this phase of the work, said workers will go through soil in the
river and remove 74 objects.

Officials
previously told the newspaper that any recovered cannonballs, scabbards, sabers or
cartridges will likely be housed at the S.C. Confederate Relic Room.